


Thanks for the Coffee

by viceversa



Category: The Fall (TV 2013), The X-Files
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Romance, Smut, This is a little sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 00:54:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18063476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viceversa/pseuds/viceversa
Summary: Stella has to work on the weekend. Dana helps her wake up, and Stella thanks her.





	Thanks for the Coffee

“No.” *smack*

Stella woke in her least favorite way, early and alone. After her usual malevolence toward the alarm, she took a small, thankful moment that she did not wake during the night, her dream journal untouched on the nightstand. Sleeping through the night was new, and she had Dana to thank for it.

She took another moment, and another, to fully accept the fact that she had to get out of her comfortable bed on a Saturday to attend a weekend meeting and submit overdue paperwork. Reluctantly, she started to un-twist herself from the bedsheets.

 _Where had she gone?_ Usually, Dana was there in bed until the last possible second, always in search of more rest. Dana loved to relax, now. She luxuriated purposefully when she could, now that she could. Dana had explained to her not too long after they had begun dating that she felt as though she was finally allowed to relax again, after her career as an agent was brought to a close. After Mulder.

She had taken more time to explain Mulder to her.

After close to two years - _God, had it really been so long?_ \- two years together, they had arrived to this point. The point of weekend routines, of farmer’s market dates, of counting on another person always.

Before she stood from the bed, Dana entered their bedroom in Stella’s silk robe and pajama bottoms, two still steaming cups of coffee in her hands.

-

“I thought I heard you abusing the alarm clock.” Dana approached the bed just as Stella sat up, resting her back on the headboard. “Good morning.”

“Really?” Stella teased gently, voice scratchy from sleep. “You, of all people, are telling me good morning?” She accepted the coffee with a small, grateful smile.

Dana smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed, stifling a yawn behind her hand. She took in the sight of her partner. Stella’s blonde hair was adorably a mess, flat and wild in a tangle around her sleepy face. Seeing Stella like this, sleep-rumpled and unashamed in a simple cotton t-shirt, it was something Dana still marveled at.

It was new, still. Rare. Even in two years, and even when they slept over at her place or elsewhere, Stella had taken a long time to get comfortable with herself in front of Dana. A part of Dana was relieved when Stella finally wore simple cotton sleepwear instead of her usual expensive silk. The moment she let down those walls, Dana stopped being afraid of where this would lead them.

This living together thing was new too, a few weeks new. There were a few half-empty boxes of Dana’s in every room.

_“There’s just no reason for you to pay for that tiny flat, Dana. London rent is obnoxious.”_

_“That’s no reason for us to live together.”_

_“Of course it is. Think of the money you’ll save, especially on an NHS salary.”_

_“Are you really so concerned about my finances?”_

_Stella had stopped moving in the middle of the sidewalk, making Dana bump into her shoulder slightly. “No. Right. I-“ she paused to gather herself. “I would quite like it - love it even - if you would move in with me, Dana.”_

_“There we go.” Dana smiled and kissed Stella quickly in the middle of London, overjoyed._

They were still really learning each other’s routines throughout the week, but were both well-versed in weekend luxury. It was time they took deliberately for themselves, whenever they could. Free time like this, each happy and healthy – they both knew how quickly it could end.

Stella sipped her coffee lightly to judge for heat, then in almost-gulps that left Dana impressed. She could down her wine and coffee with equal gusto when given sufficient enough need. Dana sipped on her own cup, thinking about the day ahead of her.

Her current shift at the clinic was weekdays only, and her weekends were generally spent with Stella. Usually, they would sleep in, make a decadent breakfast, and spend the day however they wanted. It was routine, it was comfort. It meant home, and for the first time in a long time, Dana felt _home_. She hadn’t for years, not since her mother’s death, the estrangement from her family. Not since Mulder.

Coming to England on offer of an old doctor colleague was the best thing that could have happened to her. It was a new chance at life, and she was thankful for it every day. Now she could remember her family, her Mulder, and it didn’t hurt so bad. Not with a little distance. Now, she could remember the good things, the love. It made it possible to love again.

Today was a disruption, with Stella called into work. She practically outranked most at her position now, but even she was not immune to the occasional weekend work. Which is why, when Dana woke that morning to the sight of her partner’s face obscured by her hair, oblivious to the world and sleeping deeply, she felt a surge of love that overthrew her usual morning aversion and decided to help Stella when the alarm inevitably went off.

Her reward for trudging toward the kitchen was more than enough. A happily caffeinated Stella with wild hair, sipping fresh coffee and making the smallest noises of contentment as the coffee took its affect.

A happily caffeinated Stella, setting her mostly empty mug on the bedside table, leaning in to where Dana was perched next to her. A happy Stella, wide awake, placing Dana’s mug next to her own and cradling her head between her palms, bringing Dana in for a kiss that could’ve woken her without coffee altogether.

-

Stella was blown away by little moments, now. Before Dana, her life was predictable in its un-predictableness. She could be sent away on a review, only to land in a strange city for a month, tracking down criminals and tying up loose ends. She could run into danger without thinking about her safety for another person. Stella used to wake up every weekday morning, and some extra early to go swimming, and then go to work. She would find any excuse to work on the weekends. Maybe it was paperwork. Maybe it was dangerous. Whatever it was, Stella felt empty without the distraction of it.

Then, after a long day of work or looking for it, she had always gone home alone.

Alone, but not hating it, not really. When she wasn’t alone, on those nights that a bar and some company preceded her bed, she didn’t take them to her home, to her bed. They went to a hotel, or their place, or even in the alley just outside. Those _meetings_ were more than just a vice. They were necessary. Human contact, skin to skin, silent and trusting. And then it was done, and she returned home. Alone. Flowers and wine of her own purchase to greet her.

But those liaisons were in the past. Now she had Dana Scully to come home to. Home, with Dana. It was still new.

Stella had not cohabited with someone in years, decades almost, much less in this capacity. For life. For as long as she would stay. Dana’s belongings next to hers, still working their way in, finding their place. Two robes next to the bed. Two dressers. The wine that she prefers next to Stella’s brands. Two types of shampoo, two sets of makeup, two sizes of bras that get switched accidentally too often. Books that Stella hadn’t read before, nestled between her well-loved stacks. Mail with Dana’s name collecting in her hall.

But Dana was more than just possessions, more than the amount of room she took up in the world, with her things and her small body. Dana was moments like this, making coffee for her before she woke, even though mornings had never been her favorite.

Dana was the way she caressed Stella’s hips before grabbing them, she was the slide of cotton over silk as she leaned into the kiss, she was the delicate hands of a doctor, caressing her and loving her. She was the goosebumps on Stella’s skin, the shiver up her spine.

She coaxed Dana forward, guiding her to straddle her lap. In this position, Dana had the height advantage and Stella loved it. She loved feeling the power and intent of Dana’s movements, the way she would direct her head, trail her fingers down her sides and back up, to tease her breasts.

They probably shouldn’t be doing this right now, starting something they couldn’t finish. Stella would be late to the meeting and—wait. That was really the only reason for Stella slowing her touch? For a meeting she’s been late to a hundred times before?

“What is it?” Dana breathed into her ear, trailing kisses just under it softly as she registered Stella’s stillness.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” Stella brought Dana’s face back in front of her own, noting the freckles scattered under dark blue eyes, the laugh lines, the somehow always perfect hair framing her face. “I love you.”

Dana smiled wide, lighting up her eyes, lighting up Stella. “I should make you coffee more often.” Stella tugged her close again, and Dana went to her with intensity.

-

Maybe Dana would make her coffee more often, if this were her reward. She expected a smile, a kiss of thanks. Not a full-fledged make out session. Progressing fast. God, they were making out like teenagers. Dana never thought she’d do this again, that she would have this with someone else. She loved it, so much. She loved her even more.

She felt Stella’s hands all over her, spending time in her hair as usual, down her neck, then firmly down and up her sides. She unknot the silk tie at her waist, brushing the sides down her arms and off. She slid one hand up her front, reaching Dana’s breast with a sleep-warm caress. Stella’s other hand brought Dana impossibly closer, and then sneaked down her bottoms, cupping her ass, making her moan.

Dana slipped her hands up, back to Stella’s face, kissing her with gusto and thrusting slightly against her. Stella broke away to breathe, but immediately moved to Dana’s neck, taking back control.

Dana turned her head to allow access and caught sight of the alarm clock, precariously on the edge of the table. The time gave her pause.

“Shouldn’t we, uh,” Dana panted, on sensory overload, “hit pause on this?”

“No.”

Dana intentionally began to slow and control their movements. “Stella,” another kiss, a quieting movement. “You need to get ready.”

“I can call in sick.”

“We both know you wouldn’t,” Dana said against the slight slope of Stella’s cheekbone.

“No, I won’t,” Stella conceded. “But, I can be late. I’m the boss,” she stated, then ducked her head to Dana’s breast.

What were they talking about again? Dana didn’t remember. God. She couldn’t think, not with, _God,_ with what Stella was doing to her.

_“Yes.”_

Stella maneuvered them until Dana was laying in the middle of the bed. Stella stripped off her own shirt and slid over Dana, kissing her first and then trailing her mouth back to her chest. Dana guided her head, hands tangled in Stella’s hair, as she spent time driving her wild.

Stella let go of her nipple, satisfied at the turgid peaks she created, and went back to her mission. She tugged at her pajama bottoms and Dana helped get them off, spreading her legs for Stella. Stella wasted no time, kissing up Dana’s inner thigh, lapping lightly at the crease just to the side of her core.

“God, Stella. Please.”

Dana’s hands were holding tight to the sheets by her face, wrenching them so she didn’t pull on Stella’s hair. Stella felt the tension thrumming in Dana’s body already, matching her own. She kept kissing and breathing around her target, and teased a finger, then two, into her, slick with want.

Stella kissed her mons and then her clit, immediately starting a rhythm that she knew Dana needed. There would be nothing slow about this, this was passion. Passion and love, for a woman who brought her coffee in the morning.  
Stella smiled against Dana’s clit, breaking rhythm for only a second but it was long enough for Dana to protest with a wail and a weak thrust.

Stella redoubled her efforts, a little more pressure there, a little more twist to her fingers, and suddenly she had to ride the wave of Dana’s body as she came. She backed off her clit, letting her fingers bring Dana down gently.

A breath, then two. Stella watched her love recover as she climbed back up, dropping a kiss to her hip bone, her scar on her stomach, her heart, her neck.

Dana opened her eyes and met her with a deep kiss, tasting herself and coffee on Stella’s tongue.

“Mmmhnm.”

“That good, huh?” Stella smiled, brushing the hair from her face.

“Give me just a minute, and I’ll—”

“Don’t worry about it. Something to look forward to when I come home.” Stella landed one more soft kiss on Dana’s lips. “Thanks for the coffee.”

Stella got up, Dana sprawled and post-coital on the sheets, too weak to tug her back down. She thoughtfully draped a throw over Dana’s body before walking to the bathroom.

Just before she slipped back to sleep, Dana heard Stella turn on the shower, humming tunelessly, the connecting door wide open.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to @sportsnightnut on tumblr for the prompt!!


End file.
